Armored Core: Zeroblade
by Fei Rana
Summary: The story of a new AC pilot pulled by his father, to rescue his sister. He has to deal with training missions along the way, though he would rather just go and try and save her.
1. ZeroBlade

Zero Blade  
  
Sen walks down the bright lit hallway, eyes darting to and fro, looking at the two men who were escorting him, machine guns in hand. He still had no idea what this was about. He had been sleeping in his uptown apartment, and suddenly these two thugs appeared and dragged him to this building. Sen was a fair-sized man, well-muscled body, long red hair flowing down past his shoulders, tied in a ponytail. He had green eyes, which right now registered fear and confusion. The men forced him through a door, into some sort of a sitting room. As he sits down, he looks around. It was an extremely well furnished room. A man came in, well-dressed, and smiled at him, pouring him a drink, and handing it to him. "Welcome Sen Sawan. Forgive me for dragging you so ruthlessly out of bed, but I had to make sure you would come to my little interview. I have a few questions for you. You are top of your class with MT's. Why don't you become a mechanic, but instead urge yourself towards designer patters. AC pilots pay top notch for their mechanics." Sen had no idea what this had to do with him. He looked around, then drank the dark liquid, then says replying silently and slowly, not wanting to insult the man whom had already demonstrated his force to him. "I would rather paint an AC, then fix the weapons of war." The man nods at him, and smiles. "You are like me Sen. But contrary to me, you are going to fight. I have arranged for you to take the test to become a Raven. You have no choice in the matter, so don't bother objecting. Your AC is waiting." Sen looked at the man, and gulped in fear. The two men with machine guns entered, and picked him up, forcing him out the door in a startled rush. Ren looked at his long since abandoned son be dragged away, and he shakes his head. "Heaven help my son pass this test. God knows I'd do it myself...but I think that he has more potential, to keep his eyes on the bigger prize..." He looked out his window, and walked back into his office, to finish some more work.  
  
Sen looked at the AC that was provided for him. Then he looked at the MT's, which stood threateningly at the other end of the room. The AC was a well constructed one. LN-1001 legs, a six-packer small missle launcher, a rifle, and a radar, not to mention his arms model. He moved the right control, and the arm responded perfectly to his movement. Someone had set this up to use his speed instead of his strength for the controls. The MT's suddenly came online, but he failed to notice, still examining his controls. Suddenly, laser fire sounded, hammering into the AC's chest, and it rocked backwards. Sen becoming aware of the MT's firing, hit the controls, and the AC shifted right running to the side, keeping just ahead of the trail of lasers chasing him. From the other wall, another MT popped out, firing a machine gun. Sen took each bullet, as the AC fell to it's knee. Over his intercom, he heard the announcer. "Come on you wuss. Anyone can pass this test if they can move an AC. Even by trying, your proving your skill, now fight!" The MT's start firing their lasers again, and this time. Sen starts to fight back. Just before the lasers hit him, he hit his boosters, and jerked in surprise as the AC instantly jumped into the air. He spun, and hit the firing button for the rifle. But no bullet came out. Opening his comm, he yells out quickly, "There is no ammo in this rifle!" He lands, and runs to the side dodging bullets as they came towards him. He had to deal with that maching gun MT. Dropping down, he opened his missle pod. He kept the lens focused, and started dodging the lasers from the MT's. The announcer suddenly comes on the comm. "The program is stuck, you have to win. We have no idea what's going on! The locks on the program are jammed!" Sen didn't even bother to answer. Jumping over a wave of bullets, six missles simultaneously launch, and hammer into the machine gun MT. As the dust clears, he sees the MT fall into broken pieces. Now Sen turned his aggression on the other two who were still firing their lasers. He runs towards them, bobbing and weaving with the AC, as it moved with unbelievable speed. He throws the empty rifle down, making him move faster, as one of the MT's take to the air. He wasn't letting it get away. As it jumped, Sen hit the boosters, and he lifted off at it moving like a bullet. He hit the laserblade button, and the orange blade of the old-style laser blade popped out. The MT met with it, and fell in two, as Sen landed on top of the other MT, and hammered the sword down through it. It blew up right under him, causing a small firestorm, which he walked out of AC still not seriously damaged He opened the comm, and said quietly, "Mission complete. Let me out." The comm was dead silent, the operator's voice no longer present. Sen was becoming slightly worried. The laserblade stuck out, he began hammering violently on the door. It rocked, but was generally completely unaffected by the blows. With one last swing, he gave up that attempt.  
  
The raven looked at the door, heavy cannon aimed at it. The operator had been simple to deal with. Not to mention his computer system. He checks his controls, all of them humming with activity, as the heavy AC prepared for it's mission. Assassination was rarely SledgeHammer's forte, but he didn't argue. So much money for such a low-class warrior, he was surprised he was the first one to get ahold of the contract. Be that as it may..... He opens his comm system, and yells, "It's Hammer Time!" He fires one shot from his cannon, and the door is annihilated. He steps through, his radar coming to life, as he took aim and opened fire.  
  
Sen was looking at the vents, when suddenly he heard someone yell over his comm system "It's Hammer Time!" He turned and looked at the door as it blew up. He sees the AC, and where it's aim is directed. Instantly his reflexes took over. He hit his boosters, making the AC fly backwards, narrowly dodging the cannon, though it did not get him away from the explosion. The AC rocked, then landed. Quickly looking around, Sen reached down, grabbing the machine gun from what had once been an MT, he hit his booster, this time completely dodging the cannon. The target screen flickers to life, and without waiting for a lock-on, he pulls the trigger of the machine gun. The bullets rocketed out, all of the hitting center mass of the ennemy AC. The sledgehammer symbol on his shoulder became visible, and Sen hit the ground in his AC, charging his energy reserves for the ability to dodge should he need it. And he did need it. His alarm system suddenly came to life, as the missles locked on, and fired. He wasted no time. Pulling both shifters back, he hits the boosters, and his AC flung itself backwards. As he flew, Sen let loose a fury of shells from the machinegun, making the missles blow up in mid air. Suddenly, his comm crackled to life. "Use the ZeroBlade system! On your right handshift! Hit the red button under the shifter!" Sen didn't think. Dropping the now empty machine-gun, his index finger move under the shifter. Finding the button, he slammed his finger on it. The result both startled, and scared him. His laserblade hummed to life, as a secondary waves of missles flew towards him. He started to try and hit the boosters, but they had stopped responding to his controls, when a screaming sound was heard. Knowing he had to move, he shifted the sticks forwards, and the boosters launched him with all speed, right through the center of the missles, directly at Sledghammer. His laserblade was behaving oddly. Where most laserblades normally drop after the intial slash, this one kept up, and not only that, grew to double it's length. As he arrived at Seldgehammer, the boosters tripled their speed, and the laserblade went outright. The laserblade pierced right through the armor of sledgehammer easily, a shattered scream was all Sen could hear as the blade stuck into the cockpit of the other AC pilot. Sen's body rocked violently from the collision and force. The ac before him remained standing for another moment, before erupting in an inferno, carrying the flames into Sen's own AC. He flew back, a broken wreck as his AC showed overloads everywhere, including life support, and back-up life support. The last thing Sen heard before he passed out from smoke inhilation was the sound of something scratching on his AC. Probably the flames....he thought to himself as he closed his eyes.  
  
The rescue crew worked quickly, putting out the flames surrounding Sen's AC. Meltdown ran up quickly in his AC, the tank legs gliding along the floor loudly. His chain rifle stood out on his shoulder, the backup clips loaded on, his sniper-rifle looking for a target. Finally, he got the clear to stand down. Jumping out of his AC, he sees the remains of Sledgehammer's AC. Laughing quietly, he walked over, and looked over the rookie pilot who had caused all of this destruction. He smiles, knowing this one had his mysteries too. He had defeated a trained professional, as well as MT's, with a tampered rifle, a small twenty-four pack 6-launcher, and a laserblade. But he had no time to check the AC. Before he could look at it, the R.E.N. people came in, and took the AC to be repaired. Looking at the pilot again, he takes out an emblem, and slaps it on to his shoulder roughly. "Welcome to the Stealth Ravens, the silent Nest." 


	2. Meltdown, Vision: The New Stealth Ravens

Meltdown, Vision And Mirage:The new Stealth Ravens  
  
Sen woke up slowly, staring at a white ceiling. Trying to turn his head to look around, he found himself bound down. A face suddenly popped into his vision, and looked down at his eyes. "Well, goodmorning. I was wondering when you would decide to wake up." Sen looked at him, then felt buckles being undone, releasing his limbs. Sitting up, he looked at the man who had spoken to him. He was thin, almost wirey, his nose scrunched near the bridge. His lips were curved into a small smile, looking over Sen. His most distinguishing feature was his hair, which almost seems to be made entirely of flames, but was in fact hair which had been tampered with until getting the result. Sen felt his right arm, feeling a little pain, then the man reached over, handing him some food, which Sen took and ate gratefully. All it was was some cooked potatoes, along with some sort of meat. "Well, thanks for giving your new partner such a scare. I'm Meltdown. As you can see, I have a thing for fire. Not surprising. What's your name?" Sen looked at him, and said between moutfuls, "Sen." Meltdown nods slightly, then shakes his head. "That won't do. You can't go using your real name if you are a member of Silent Nest. You have that black AC that merges into the shadows so easily right? I'm going to nickname you Vision, for now. You can figure out your AC's nickname yourself." Sen nods, liking the sound of that name. Looking around, his head suddenly snaps back to meltdown. "What do you mean, partner? And what to do you mean Silent Nest? There is another nest other then the Raven's Nest?" Meltdown nods. "I was assigned to be your partner. In Silent nest, we believe in partnered combat. It ups the stakes. As for Silent Nest, it is for expert AC pilots, which you quite obviously have the potential to be. I don't know how the hell you did it, but the way you destroyed hammer.....there is no way a rookie could do that easily. Mind telling me how you managed that?" Sen smiles slightly, "Me and my laserblade went to work...." Meltdown gives him a curious glance, but doesn't push the issue. Smiling lightly, he says, "I think your going to be the melee fighter of the two of us aren't you? Well, do you have any credits?" Sen shakes his head, shrugging. "I was attending school, and got pulled out rather roughly, then stuffed into that AC. I don't have any money.." Meltdown nods, then stands, passing Vision some clothes. "Let's go Vision, we got some work to do on that AC. It was badly damaged, but between the two of us, I'm sure we'll be able to get it finished in no time." As Meltdown walks out of the room, Sen stands, and dresses quickly. He had no idea what was going on, but he didn't care either. He was a member of a nest, and that meant survival of the fittest. Jogging out of the room quicly, he follows Meltdown to work on his new AC...  
  
Ren looks at the status report from the test. Complete obliteration of the MT's, and the destruction of a fully-trained Raven. This was good. His son was performing better then hoped. The zeroblade had worked out well too. He smiles, then gets back to his paperwork, as he waited patiently for the call....  
  
"YOU, get that arm equipped!" Meltdown shouted orders loudly, the mechanics in the hangar working quickly and efficiently as per the instructions he gives. Sen climbs up on to the left arm, then opens the laserblade panel. Looking at it, he sees the cause of the extra output. There were turbo wires running directly into the laserblade. Ingenious, but also producing a dangerous amount of output for almost any human to handle. Meltdown walked over, and Sen closes the panel, sealing it with his passcode. "My laserblade is working fine. For an older model, I can't help but feel it's power. I wouldn't mind getting a moonlight blade though. Problem is, that along would drain all my funds, and I still need a new FCS model for my missle pod." Meltdown nods, then whistles over to a mechanic on the ground. "Unload my moonlight, and bring it here. Vision will be using it from now on." Giving Sen a little smile, he says quietly, "I don't know why I had even bought that damn thing, I have never even used it in melee combat, I got my flame-thrower for that." Standing quickly, Sen nods a great thanks to him. "Thank you! I owe you one. I'll give you the money for it as soon as I-" he silences suddenly as meltdown raises his hand. "We are partners, and friends. You watch my back on our missions, and we'll call it even. Alright?" Sen nods, then moves to the arm lifter. He quickly detaches the laserblade, then rehooks up the moonlightblade. This would give him a definite advantage, though it was weighing him down. "Meltdown! I'm having a problem. Should I drop my missle pod, in exchange for a gun? Or should I just go gunless?" Meltdown climbs in, then brings up the AC specs. "We can drop this radar piece. I'll get you a red-eye head unit, that will take care of that. Then we will drop your piece of junk generator, and hook you up with a twin-thunder. It's lighter, and it produces three times the output of a normal generator. You can then use a light machine gun, or a handgun, while keeping your missle pod attached." Sen nods to him, and traces his fingers over the specs of his AC. "This leg junction is damaged. We need to bypass this broken pump, and reseal it from the bottom." Meltdown nods, then shouts to his mechanics, and they get to work on it immediately. "Vision, go get in the cockpit, I need to walk you through some new things on your screen. I'll be in FireStarter." Nodding, Sen runs over, then jumps into his cockpit, seating himself, then putting his hands around the shifts. His index finger slowly slides under the handle, until it finds the Zeroblade switch. Sliding them back with a smile, he hits the passcode, and the AC's viewmonitor comes to life. "Vision, look at your monitor. You now have three things added. On your weapon side, you got something called a Flare. Same idea as a normal flare, except it can be used to signal for attacks. On the top left, you have an ennemy weapons counter. That is a high-tech piece of equipment. If you look at that, when staring at an ennemy, your AC will autoscan it, and give you it's weapon type, as well as ammo capacity. The other thing you have is two fuel bars. We have attached your AC with a reserve, and now you can use double the power on your boosters. I tried looking for new ones altogether, but they won't be in for three weeks." Sen listens to meltdown from his comm, and says quietly, "Alright, I see them. One second." he quickly brings up a secondary spec, and examines the AC using it's own scanners. "Alright, the leg piece is fixed, but I need to have time to look at the Moonlight before I use it. I need to check my left arm strength." Shutting down the AC, Sen ran up to the arm panel. Opening the panel up, he grabs a screwdriver, and starts hooking the Zeroblade wires to the Moonlightblade. "Let's test this baby out." Meltdown placed a hand on his shoulder. Nodding, the door to the training area opened. Getting in the cockpit, Sen enters it using his AC. Two MT's entered, and immediately started firing their lasers. Using his shifts, Sen made the ac move to the right, his new speed making him seem like a blur. Running into the shadows, he hit his stealth function, the one part he had blown the small amount of money from the nest on, and his signal disappeared from Radar. Waiting patiently, the first MT get's too close, and makes it's mistake of walking by without scanning. Dashing out of the shadows, the moonlightblade came out, and sliced through it like a hot butterknife through butter. The other turned and started firing at him. Hitting his boosters, he shifted to the right, moving with unbelievable speed, then leaping, he lands before the MT, taking another swipe. Pulling back on the shifts, and hitting the booster, he flies back, and the two MT's simultaneously explode. "Damnit Vision, that was excellent. You and those boosters are deadly. You figure out a name for your AC yet?" Sen looks around, and notices how he had seemed to merge with the shadows when he was standing in it. "I'll call him Mirage. He is going to be a good AC." Meltdown agrees quickly, then rides in on his own AC. His tank legs grinded along the ground, two chain rifles on his shoulders, and a sniper rifle in his hand. "Alright, quick team sim." Four MT's appear, and Meltdown says quickly, "Alright, we are going to use each other's skills to defeat them. GO!" Two MT's begin firing at Meltdown, whom quickly rolls aside on his tank legs. Mirage moved with all speed, heading for them. The other two started firing, slamming into him, and Meltdown says over the comm, "Use my skills to complement yours." Boosting into the air, Meltdown let's loose a flurry of sniper rifle shots, forcing the two had originally fired on him to look down. Moving in on them, using his boosters to dodge the lasers, Mirage slashes with the laserblade quickly, hitting them both, then boosts upright, and heads back in a diaganol movement, the explosion of the two MT's quickly following. Hitting his missle pod button, he lands, and runs across. Aiming at the other two. "I'm firing my missles from the right, if they move left to dodge, cut them in half." He was rewarded with his plan by the sound of two chain guns unfurling. Hitting the trigger, six missles flew, and as expected, the MT's dodged left, where they were cut in half by MeltDown's chain guns, exploding with bulletriddled bodies. Mirage skidded to a stop on the floor of the training grounds, and looked across to Meltdown. "I don't think I should even bother worrying about a heavier gun. You can handle that, and I can stick with my laserblade." Meltdown's voice cackles over the comm, "Yeah, but I'd carry a machine gun with you, even a little twohundred and fifty shot one. Just in case we go on missions where you'll need to use ranged attacks before you can move in. Other than that, we make a good team Vision. We'll make a killing on our missions."  
  
Ren smiled with pride as his boy and Meltdown annihilated the MT's with ease. His son wasn't even using the zeroblade as he would have expected him to. He was making a killing using nothing but his laserblade, and his boosters...Ren could help him more on that area. Checking the order, he found the pitiful set of boosters that were ordered, then checked Meltdown's Salary. No wonder. Meltdown had already seriously cut it down on the generator. Ren smiled again, then called his company headquarters. They did have a mission lined up, but he was unsure if his son and Meltdown were ready. Vision, and Meltdown. One of the most deadly combinations he had ever seen. One was a severe weapons specialist in chain guns, the other an unbelievably fast laserblade fighter. He looked at the clean-up crews scooping up what scraps they could of the MT's to use as spare metal. He examined the mission briefing that he would give them if he thought them ready. Destroy a convoy of AC weapons heading to a group of Revolutionists. Finally giving a sigh of acceptance, he called, and lined them up for the mission. He then e-mailed Meltdown, and Vision. He kept it short.   
  
"Hello Vision and Meltdown. Greetings my son and nephew. You were called here to train. I am afraid I have some bad news. Your sister has been taken captive Vision. I would have told you sooner, but I could not risk you going gung ho. She is being treated fine, and I am forced to work and pay the kidnappers a salary to keep her that way. You need to train, because no other Raven's have the skill to do this mission. Therefore, your missions will begin. I will be your contact. Never accept a mission under any circumstances without discussing it with me in person, or in E-mail. We need to work hard if we hope to succeed in getting her back. Here is your first mission."   
  
Vision looked at the E-mail, and his jaw dropped in shocked disbelief. No wonder all of this happened. Meltdown looked across at him, and nodded, also confirming this was his first hearing of these events as well. Looking over the mission data, Vision looked across to Meltdown, whom nodded again, then stood up, equipping his pilot suit, and starting to load his ammo, and prepping his AC. Vision took one minute to store the E-mail, then followed. Mirage was ready, but he still needed to equip a secondary weapon. Making a quick decision, he drops the missle launcher, then equips a laserblade on his right arm too. Meltdown could deal with ranged. Moving quickly, Vision set up the right arm, and now had duel Laserblades. He would be causing a path of destruction. As an afterthought, he added a multi-warhead launcher, only one round of missles in it, but capable of knocking out ten trucks per missle. He would need it...  
  
Meltdown looked at his AC. So...I am fighting for the life of my cousin...A good reason to fight. he thinks to himself silently. He equips his energy snipe rifle. It only had ten shots, but each was enough to annihilate an AC if shot correctly. His chainguns remained, as he got into his AC. The tank legs would be useful on a road terrain. He just hoped he wouldn't screw up. But then, with a guy carrying a moonlight laserblade....nevermind, a moonlight, and an extra, how could they lose? Driving his AC out, he drove up beside Mirage, then turned his comm on. "Let's go Vision." They board the waiting dropship. They were expecting a warzone the second they hit the ground. So they disembarked their AC's moving to the mini-quarters. There, they both sat, drinking some juice, and eating what may be their only meal for the next forty-eight hours. Looking up suddenly, Meltdown says, "Well.....I hope your ready cousin. We will give them cause to fear the Silent Nest. Now, let's play some cards, then get some sleep." Pulling out a deck of cards, Meltdown deals, Vision nodding lightly. Looking at his hand, he instantly starts laughing, then says, "You little cheater." Meltdown laughs too, showing him the hand full of aces. "Yeah. I used to be a thief. Didn't have much choice. I was poor, so I had to resort to what I could to eat. Then I got dragged into Ren's office, and then ended up being an AC member. My former partner died in a mission recently. There was a bomb in an AC he was fighting, and when it went off, he didn't have time to back off. He was a good man. I was proud to be his partner, as I am to be yours. We must show them what we can do." Laughing, he flicks the combat simulator helmet on, and puts it on, attacking some MT's through VR. Vision laughs, then stands, walking out to Mirage. He put his hand on it's massive foot, saying a prayer of respect to God, that he help him live well in the next few hours. Climbing up the AC, he sits on the left arm. Popping the panel open, he checks the wires, then pulls out a screwdriver, tightening a lose screw. He would be needing the Zeroblade, at least he thought he would. Destruction would reign from it. He had to make sure not to use it unless he had to. He needed to keep this a secret to himself. This skill could determine a win or lose in a mission, and he didn't need to give it away so soon. Closing the panel, he climbs inside of his cockpit. He there, equips his equipment, and rests, closing his eyes to get whatever sleep he could...  
  
"RAVENS, WAKE UP, GET TO YOUR AC'S, WE ARE NOW IN THE BATTLE ZONE!" The comm roared to life, and Vision instantly snapped awake, feeling the dropship rocking from anti-air guns. Hitting the power, his AC flickered to life. "This is Mirage, open dropship doors!" Instantly, he heard the doors open. Hitting the reverse, he shoots backwards, then jumps out of the dropship. He suddenly heard, "Meltdown, dropping now!" Then Meltdown's AC dropped out of the dropship. Their war was now starting. Hitting the ground, Mirage instantly shifted forwards, dashing straight for the nearest anti-aircraft gun. The moonblade exited, and the gun was gone in a slash. The pilot of the dropship echoed a thanks, as Meltdown hit the ground and started gunning down the other A.A. guns. Moving in quickly, Mirage slashed at an MT, slicing it in half. Moving forwards, Meltdown began gunning down MT's, Mirage sticking close, slashing any who dared to get close. His AC scanned for the target trucks. However, they had not been given a definite time on arrival. "Meltdown, why not try and take out this outpost, and hit them when they get here?" Meltdown looks around, his chainguns firing more into an MT, making it blow up. "Alright, go left, that structure that looks like a castle. Take control of that, I'll hit the forest." Driving off, Meltdown went. In the distance, the flashes of bullets were seen. Mirage ran towards the castle, then using his boosters approached faster. Hitting them, he leaped over the walls, landing in the middle of ten MT's. They came to life, and fired but Mirage was already moving. Jumping over the first wave of Lasers, both of his laserblades come out, slashing. Two of them fell in two in a single thrust. Quickly adjusting his weight, he shifted towards two more, and slashed. The moonlight ripped right through one, the other was only mildly damage by the glancing right blade. Jumping sideways, the MT explodes, and the other MT's mistakenly hit their comrade, finishing it off. Landing again, he hits his turbo boosters, and he flew towards him, slashing along the way, catching four in the path of destruction. The last two had no chance. They ended in two vicious slashes. Checking his own armor, he found himself completely undamaged. Running outside, the castle clear, he looks across. There was another raven there, fighting it out with Meltdown. Hitting his turbo's again, he heads for the fight. The AC sees him come, and turns, firing a bazooka round at him. Meltdown was waiting though, and in a few shots of his chain gun, the rocket blew up without any damage. Getting closer, two quick laserblade slashes went, and the AC dropped to it's knee damaged. Slashing out with the moonlight, the ennemy AC's weapon fell in two, then pointing the moonlight at him, he holds. "Ennemy AC, power down immediately, or I will be forced to finish you." Meltdown drove forth, riddle with burn marks, as well as a few laserblade slashes. The AC pilot shut it off, then exiting the cockpit, stuck his hand in the air in surrender. The first part was complete success. Now they began the wait for the convoy, hoping that this would not take too long.... 


	3. JCorps Sin

J-Corps Sin  
  
The shadows hid him well. Vision gave a loud yawn as he watched the road for his shift. Him and Meltdown had been waiting for sixteen hours, and there was still no signs of the convoy. He began to wonder if they had gotten off a messenger in time. The AC pilot they had captured was easily convinced to give up all the information he needed. But it seemed that no one had ever known when the arrival of the shipment would be. Hearing a small knock on his AC hatch, he hit the button, opening it. Meltdown crawled in, grabbing a seat at his feet. "Still nothing. Here, I brought you some food and a drink." he says silently as he hand the items over. Removing his helmet with the nightvision viewscreen, he took the food with a nod of thanks. As he began eating, Meltdown began to speak silently. "We'll wait another two hours. If there is still nothing I am going to take FireStarter and head to the AC garage in Downfall. I'll contact Ren, and we'll see if something has changed." Vision gives a simple nod as he states this, then goes back to his food. Meltdown slips out of his AC, and heads back to his own AC, which had to be covered in a stealth net, simply put, a heavy net intertwined with leaves which makes any type of AC completely undetectable by scanners of other AC's. Mirage needed no stealth. His radar jammer, and his natural ability to blend into the shadows was enough for him. The time slowly drifted by, until the hour was up. Meltdown left as promised, to contact Ren about the mission. Vision kind of wished it was him going. He looked over his AC specs, then pulled out a book and started reading. There was no reason why he couldn't keep studying. Finally, something happened. His silent alarm came to life, and the helmet was instantly equipped. Looking out, he spotted a copter circling the area. MT version 2-air tactics unit. A scout. It looked around, then passed right near Mirage. Vision kept still, leaving all of his power off. He couldn't afford to warn the convoy about his presence. The MT flies away, as Vision, turns on his AC, and prepares to fight. An AC suddenly came into view, then three others. The convoy had arrived. Two were armed with high power laser cannons, one with a rifle, and another with a thousand-rounder machine gun. That would be a problem. Mirage wasn't equipped to fight distance fighters. Oh well, he could at least take out the trucks. Flicking on his Warhead launcher, he took aim as the first truck came into view. Looking over at it, he sighs as the AC's block it from view. He was going to have to deal with the AC's first. All of the AC's were powered down, so it could easily be said he could fire and possibly take one out before it could even counter. Maybe two if they were close enough. Taking careful aim, he prepares, he unleashes the hell as his warheads fire.  
  
Meltdown had left without anyone around. So it was safe to say Vision would be fine. He continued on his path, still thinking this was stupid. The road signs got more clear, and finally, he arrived in Downfall. Downfall was a small village consisting of ten families. It was one of the extensions of the Silent Nest, and as soon as they looked at his code, he was given access to the village. It took him only minutes to find the garage. Hooking up to the network, he sends an E-mail to Ren. "Meltdown reporting. There is absolutely no sign of anyone coming. I suggest we pull out and take this one as a loss. What do you think?" Meltdown waited patiently for his reply...  
  
Vision hammer the trigger on the shift, the pod opening with the click. Boosting into the air, the wave of warheads fired, striking into the chest of the AC. The resulting blast was enormous. It lit the sky, as Mirage hit the ground, and began running towards his intended targets. The other AC's instantly sprang into action. As a whole, they raised, and fired their weapons. Mirage slid easily out of the way of the bigger, slowler laser cannons easy, but still suffered a sudden assault from the one with the machine gun. Hitting his boosters, he got out of the stream of bullets. He dashes towards the AC's, slashing as he goes. The laserblade rips through the hydraulic's of the machine-gunner's leg, stopping his ability to turn. The other two AC's turned, firing their laser cannons, but Mirage was nowhere near the shots, as he flew right fast, just taking small shocks from the exxplosions. He hit the ejector, and the Warhead launcher explodes off his shoulder, landing with a thud on the ground. The machine-gunner let's loose another flurry of bullets as he gets in front of him, then deciding he had had enough, he hit the boosters, put them into Turbo, and hammered into the thing's head with his laserblade. It let out one satisfying beep before it exploded off it's shoulders. Ripping the machine gun out of the AC's motionless hand, he hits the boosters, shifting up and back, then aims the gun down, pointing between his own AC's legs, as he completely narrowed down the target range of the machine gun. As the body of one of the other AC came into view, he pulls the trigger of the machine gun. The body of the AC instantly suffered from the concentrated spray at it's head as it rocked, bullet holes appearing all over the head unit as he continues to pull the trigger. Landing violently on the ground, he hears the explosion of the head of the other AC. Twisting right as a laserblade wizzed by, he hears the sound of a hydraulic mechanism in his core being heard. His power output instantly began to drop. Looking over at the other AC, it began to charge a particle cannon, intent on destroying Vision and Mirage in one brutal blast. But Vision was a much better pilot then that. Hitting the auxilary pumps, the energy flared back into his engine, as he stared back at the cannon reaching critical mass. He opens his intercom, and in one defying roar, he screams, "I'LL KILL YOU FIRST!" His hand slides under the right shift, flipping over the cap, then hammering on to the ZeroBlade system. The boosters instantly flares to life igniting the earth behind it on fire. Putting both hands on the shift, he pushed forwards, the AC instantly flying at the one with the particle cannon. The Moonlight extended out, twice it's normal length, the boosters screaming with power. He was gone, speed so incredible he wasn't even seen. He reappeared right in front of the other AC, as the cannon reached critical mass. The moonlight made one massive swipe, then died down instantly. The cannon fired into the air uselessly as the AC fell backwards, split nearly in two. Mirage rocked with force, the left arm a smoking heap, the moonlight still present, but looked like hell. Turning around, the trucks came into view. Running towards the trucks weakly, he raises the gun with his right hand. His targetting system was screwed to high hell, but he needed to pull the trigger anyways. He would not do so yet though. "Attention transport vehicles. All drivers please evacuate, or you will be destroyed along with your trucks. You have ten seconds to comply." Instantly, truck doors opened, and men jumped out the trucks. Vision blinks as they run to the back of the truck, and women and children start jumping out of the trucks into their arms as they evacuate. Hitting the sound and speaker, he says out, "What's going on, why are there women and children here?" Hitting the red-eye's x-ray scanner, no weapons were spotted. All of it was women and children. One of the men holds his hands up in surrender, and yells out, "We don't want to die. All we wanted to do was get them to the damn hospital in Downfall. Why won't J-Corps let us heal the sick?" Vision's jaw drops as he hears the man say this. The men he just killed...were guarding women and children? "Get back in your trucks, I am going to escort you there myself." The men nodded thanks, and the trucks were re-loaded. As they started driving, Vision began moving Mirage with the in a flanking maneuver, waiting and watching. His generator was running dry, but he had no choice but to help as he could. Getting an idea, he shut off the power to the moonlight, instantly giving him a little more power. He would need to modify the zeroblade system so that it wouldn't wreck the AC whenever he used it. The speed it gave him completely limited which way he could move, but he was betting with enough strength, he could probably get it to turn. The trip was fairly uneventful, as him and the leader of the convoy sat discussing what types of sicknesses they had. All of them had been infected by a chemical that was dropped in the water by J-Corps, or Jechtech Fighting Corps, the people responsible for the many MT's in the world. They had been testing it out as a potential weapon to wipe out terrorists. Since the village was poor and secluded, it was decided it would make a good target. Vision slowly became enraged at this, watching the road way. Little did he know, in about three seconds, he would have even more of a reason to be angry....  
  
Meltdown looks at his computer when the e-mail arrives. Opening it quickly, he finds Ren's logo, and smiles. The message was short, but it was directly to the point. "If they aren't there yet, chances are they aren't coming. What a waste. J-Corps will pay us anyways though, I'll see to that! Get back to Vision, and tell him to pull out." Meltdown stood, jumping into Firestarter. He begins driving out of the city, when overhead, he sees Air Combat MT's flying towards where he had left Vision. The J-Corps insignia stood out on them, as flashes of light started to appear on the roadway heading towards them. Meltdown instantly hit his boosters, and headed towards the fight.  
  
Vision watched in utter horror as one of the trucks behind him blew to smithereens. Looking into the air, he saw the source. Stealth planes were flying above, dropping bombs. Their insignia's stood clear, then without waiting another second, he raised the machine gun, and fired. The MT's dodged the bullets with ease, Vision unable to hit because of his lack of any FCS at the moment. Finally, plotting out the flight path, he gunned right into it, and let the MT's themselves fly onto the bullets. Three went down, though there were at least another twenty flying around. The trucks picked up speed, as Mirage moved in position setting himself between them and the MT's. Their fire on him was merciless. Within minutes, the pump in his leg was grinding, ready to blow, his body riddled with bullet holes. His machine gun fired again, striking down another two, but that was all before he ran out of ammo. As he waited for what would probably be the final wave, his alarms sounded, noting the presence of an AC heading towards him. It was Meltdown. Vision gave a cry of joy, opening his intercom yelling, "Knock those junk heaps out of the sky!" Meltdown instantly complied. Duel chainguns opened fire, hammering into the MT's. Three of them fell in the first barage. Hitting the trigger on his boosters, Meltdown lifted off, the tank legs giving a slight groan. He fired out with his rifle, striking into the MT's over and over. Three more fell. The rest fell to his chainguns, leaving him only slightly damaged in the end of the attack. Mirage had remained inactive during the fight, but now, after standing, withstanding an assault, and taking overkill damage, it malfunctioned, finally stopping it's movements. "Meltdown, Mirage is out." There was a momentary silence, then Meltdown hit his spotlights, and scanned them over the AC. He gave a concerned look, then looking at the left arm, and the scorched laserblade, he says quietly over the intercom, "You should be more careful with your laserblade. I don't know what your doing with it, but it's generally not a good idea to let it scorch itself. Your frame is going to take some serious work, and I don't have the money for that. We might have to throw a cheap AC together from spare parts and scrap until we can get some cash." Over their intercoms, they both heard a slight cackle, then the sound of a man's voice appear. "Raven's, this is Ren. I heard about what happened from the convoy leader. I am sending a skimmer to pick you up. Vision, good job. The garage here has opened it's doors for you two to repair your AC's. The convoy leaders have also left fifty thousand credits each, the as agreed on with the former guards. I'm proud of you two. And J-Corps has now officially made an ennemy of the Stealth Nest. It's bad enough they lied to us, but then attack us too? Just not smart." Vision smiled as the floating platform approached, skimmer as it was called. It wasn't much. It was basically a floating platform used to move AC's around and over deep water or bad earth. It took them only an instant to scoop up Mirage, Meltdown driving along beside it in preparation of another attack. "Ren, why didn't you tell me who you were?" Vision sudenly popped the question that had been on his mind. "I abandoned you and your mother Sen. I couldn't risk telling you who I was until you knew the reason for my contacting you." Sen simply nodded, realizing that the way he had been brought in was in fact the tactically correct method for it to be done. Climbing out of Mirage, Vision walks over to the edge of the platform, seating himself hanging his legs over the edge. His mind returned to the horrific scene he had witnessed when the J-Corps had dropped a bomb on a truck load of women and children on their way to get medical treatment. He wouldn't let that slide. He would take revenge for them, every last one of them. He already began plotting the death of the   
J-corps.  
  
When Mirage was pushed into the city on the skimmer, cheers arose from all directions. Men, women, and children stood in the streets cheering as the bullet-ridden AC drove along towards the garage. Two men waited as Vision jumped off off the skimmer as it reached the garage door. "Thank you Raven. I am Dennis, this is my son Danny. We owe you our lives, as well as the lives of countless others. How can we ever repay you?" Vision smiled shakily, then fell forwards on his face. His exhaustion from fighting and lack of sleep, linked with the physical pressure the Zeroblade put on him made him pass out. Meltdown stared in shock as his friend fell, then jumping out of of the giant AC, and running over, he shakes him roughly. Getting nothing but a groan of pain from Sen, he gives a smile, then with the help of the convoy pilots, picks him up, carrying him into a room. The three men kept a silent vigil on him, as the medic entered and looked him over. With a quiet remark, he states simply, "He has three broken ribs, god only knows how he was able to stay in the fight so long in this condition, but he did it." Wrapping him up, the medic leaves to give Ren, who quickly comes in to look over his son. He gives a sigh of relief, then walks over joining the others. "Doc said he'll be fine in a few hours. I have never seen such dedication in someone who didn't want to be an AC pilot." Meltdown gives a nod, then states, "He is the best partner I've ever had, even though I've only been on one mission with him, I can see he is one of the greats in AC combat." Him and Ren then go on to watch the video tape of the battle, removing it from Mirage's camcorder. They watched in amazement at the death-defying maneuvers Sen had pulled, both positive that they wouldn't dare to attempt half the things he had done. As it neared the part where he used his ZeroBlade, his camera suddenly cut out, the bullet in the head finally disabling it. Ren smiled warmly to himself, thinking silently, "The Zeroblade remains a secret." Meltdown gave a little smile when the camera blurred. "Damn, he had it rough. Kind of glad he did though, if he hadn't, we might of blown up those trucks no questions asked." Ren gave a simple nod, as he walked back into his son's room, whom was already awake and sitting, eating a light meal. "Nicely done Sen. No, expertly done. Your work with a laserblade is a work to be reckoned with." Sen gave a simple nod between mouthfuls. An engineer walked in then, saying, "Your AC is repaired. We equipped some new boosters for you, Titans." Sen gave a nod, suddenly wondering what kind of pressure was going to be applied to him from the new boosters attached. Ren was quick to usher the engineer out so Sen could recover a little before having to worry about his AC anymore. Ren already had another mission for them, he needed his pilot healthy. 


End file.
